MojoLists

"DVD is going away soon" has suddenly become a hot topic on many enthusiast forums. While the question makes a lot of sense from people who have invested a considerable amount into collecting DVDs and buying top-notch players, there is nothing to worry about in my opinion, at least not yet.

Many make the argument that Blu-Ray will be a short-lived format that is brought down by downloadable movies. I will concede that downloadable movies will become more popular in the years to follow however for the vast majority of the public, it is not a convenient option as long as video quality and bandwidth problems exist.

Blu-Ray and downloads aside, DVD is king in the public eye at the moment. The movies are readily available at a fraction of the cost of Blu-Ray discs and players are available for well under $100. At this price point, the general public will continue to go the DVD route.

The difference between DVD and VHS was much more dramatic than DVD to Blu-Ray is. Few people had large collections of VHS tapes and the difference in quality between VHS and DVD was immense. Many home theater enthusiasts have skipped Blu-Ray altogether as they do not see enough of a difference between Blu and upscaled DVD. I am not of this opinion as I see a huge difference on many movies but like all media, it is dependant upon the source material and the quality of the transfer.

The current rule in my house is that big action movies get picked up on Blu-Ray for the HD sound quality as do classics for their video quality. Upscaling is good enough for many other movies, especially movies that are likely to be played in one of the bedrooms or even the living room where HD audio isn’t an option. I still like to have flexibility in where I watch but I never watch the latest war movie outside my main theater.

Until the general public is convinced to calibrate their televisions so they can easily see the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray they will not buy unless the price comes down to DVD levels, which it won’t, at least in the near future. Besides, what is the chance that the public will suddenly decide to turn their TV setting down from eye melting bright, not much in my opinion.

Downloading movies seems like a great option and years down the road it may be true, but renting downloads doesn’t satisfy the collection bug of so many who want the physical package on their shelf. The big chance downloads have at the moment is that most people really don’t care about picture quality at this point but the need to run wires and set up special servers will hold this format back for at least a few more years.

DVDs are not an endangered species by a long shot and much like VHS, the manufacturers will continue to put out players and media as long as there is a public willing to buy or rent. I for one will continue collecting for years if not decades yet to come.